But the new Bears offensive coordinator has one resume gap when he was off the sidelines. After Oregon fired him in November 2016 after four seasons as head coach, Helfrich spent a year watching the game from “behind the curtain.”

He said he spent some time with unnamed NFL teams leading up to the 2017 draft and he then worked as an analyst for Fox Sports this past college football season. It is one of many experiences Helfrich brings to the table as he aids Matt Nagy’s preparations as a first-time head coach.

“Fox (Sports) was fantastic to me,” Helfrich said. “Great people, obviously it was a great experience. You did get behind the curtain and see how people prepare, take even a drill or a nuance of terminology you’ll take forward and that was very beneficial.”

As he introduced Helfrich to the media Thursday at Halas Hall, Nagy made clear he hopes Helfrich will use his extensive background to help him grow both in offensive game planning and in serving as a head coach.

Most of Helfrich’s jobs have come as a college assistant or offensive coordinator, the latter his title at Colorado from 2006 to 2008 and Oregon from 2009 2012. After he went 37-16 in four seasons at Oregon, the program exercised an $11.6 million buyout, which was reduced to an $8.1 million settlement last spring, according to the Oregonian. While his last stint on the sideline was as a head coach, Helfrich said he’s not worried about taking a step back to assisting again.

“Not at all,” Helfrich said. “If (Nagy) was a different person, maybe, but we’re going to have some ups and we’re going to have some downs. I made a million mistakes, a lot of them. And if some of those things, I can communicate, ‘This, this and this might happen,’ and that helps him take a shortcut on a path, absolutely (I‘ll do it).

“But I think it’s all collaborative. I am going to be in Vic (Fangio’s) office a lot. He’s going to be annoyed by me (as I try) to get in his head and know what might help me transition from college to the NFL. I would be an idiot if I didn’t walk 24 feet down and ask a guy like that. So we are all in this together.”

Nagy will call plays for the new offense, but the group is still ironing out details of their day-to-day work process. Nagy said he has an inherent trust in how Helfrich will handle such details because of his seasoning.

“You realize that in that position you’re kind of that guy that just holds it down in regards to behind the scenes with the organizational stuff, the meetings,” Nagy said. “The communication process is so big. So Mark’s been there, done that as a head coach. He’s been there as an offensive coordinator. … He’s the conduit to me of what’s going on with the staff right now and the players, so that we could make it all work. And he’s going to be excellent with that.”